Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
ArticleBody:Mammals are defined by how and what we eat every single day of our lives. It is no wonder then that jaws are a pretty big deal for our anatomy and biology. Now, a 225-million-year-old fossilized jaw joint appears to represent the oldest example of a type of joint that has helped make mammals what they are today. This skeletal structure reveals that similar structures may have evolved in early mammal species that are not closely related.
Jorge Blanco The specimens are of two extinct cynodont species–Brasilodon quadrangularis and Riograndia guaibensis. Both species were tiny, at about six to 11 inches long. They likely spent a good deal of time in burrows hiding from predators, similar to small living mammals. Brasilodon’s teeth suggest that it likely would have eaten insects and other small animals. Riograndia had more rodent-like incisors and leaf shaped postcanine, which indicate it would have eaten more plant material.
Jorge Blanco “Brasilodon and Riograndia really stand out because they are very closely related to mammaliaforms, the group that includes modern mammals and their ancestors,” says Rawson. “And so their lifestyle and anatomy gives us valuable clues into how mammals evolved their most defining features. The team used CT scanning to reconstruct the jaw joint anatomy of both animals.
Jorge Blanco. That this feature evolved earlier and more than once reveals a much more complex picture of jaw evolution in mammals. “Humans are mammals. We chew and bite to eat,” says Zhe-Xi. “Our life depends on our feeding function, which requires our jaw hinge.
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